Signal attachment for life-preservers.



' No; 827,350. PATENTED JULY 31', 1906. A.G.GROPFORD. SIGNALATI'fIAGHMENT FOR LIFE PRESERVERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 20, 1906. RENEWED MAY 16. 1906.

lllllll IHNIJ.

. I all whom it may concern.-

; PAT NT oFFIo Be it known that 1, A1340. CROFFORl), a citizen of, theUnited States, residing at Newcastle, county of Weston, andState ofWyoming, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SignalAttachments for Life-Preservers, ofwhich the following is aspecification.

. y' servers. The ob ect of the present invention is the provision of aniinproved signal for life-preionrelates to signals for life-preservers"adapted to-be confined into compact and 'convenientjform in connectionwith a life'-preserver,,.but which can be rapidly arranged for'u's'e asa signal-balloon when the life-preserver is put in use, therebyproviding means whereby passing boats "or vessels or other;possiblerescuer'a even when at a distance' of two or moremiles,--will beapprised oft; 'jeifact" that a person is in thewater and Ishoulu-breseued,

f'g -y out invention, I provide a balloondfs'uitable size sealed up andprovided with, chemicals in'suitable' form inside the v, ,.balloon,;sothat by a simple operation on the part 'ofthe person who is going to usethe if preserver' such chemicals will be liberated and" allowed tocombine to generatea gas to float the balloon, and also-a signalattached to the balloon and comprising a distendable bag ordinarilyfolded into compact form and disposed along with the life-preserver andballoon, but provided with a confined spring which will be released bythe operator or user of the liferpreserver to. thereby distend thebag,said bag or signal to be treated with a phosphorescent or luminous paintand colored in brilliant stripes, so that it will be visible at nightand in all weathers. It will be understood that the signal attachment tothe balloonmight be dispensed with and the balloon itself serve alonea's-a signal and for that purpose be properly colored and painted withhosphorescent or luminous paint, and there ore I do not limitthe use ofthe invention tothe em 'loyment of the signal-attach ment distenda le bThe invention is f u lly set forth hereinafter,

pended claims.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed May 20, 1905. Renewedlay 1a, 1906. Serial No. m ss.

and the novel features are recitedin the apmat d July a1, 1906.-

aview illustrating the complete device in use; Fig. 2, a detail of theballoon, showmgbthe gas-generating apparatus before it has een used;Fig. 3, a detail of the signal when folded and before it has been used,and F g; 4, a detail of the signal after it has been distended.

able len th a balloon 3, which may be of any preferre d construction,size, and form, except for the improved gas-generating apparatus andadjacent part of the balloon. The neck fran 'ble lass capsules 5 and 6,in which will be sealed suitable -chemicals whose combination willproduce some suitable gas of sufficiently lighter specific gravity thana r to pro erly lift the ballon to the desired height, an I do notrestrict myself to the use of any particular chemicals in thisconnection. The chemical substances in the respective cap: sulesare'indicated by 7 and 8. The su shown at 8 maybe scrap-zinc. In Fig. -2I have shown one form which this part of the invention may assume wherethe chemicals used would beliable to injure the material of theballoonif released before be nglcombined. The. mouth of, capsule 5 ist1g tly closed or sealed by a stopper 5, while the neck has of thecapsule is closed by a cap or plug 7, which will blow out when the gasis enerate and permitted to pass intothe gasag of the balloon. n Thecapsule 6 is of such size that 1t can be passed through the base of thecapsule and its mouth rests on shoulder 5" and is sealed b aremovablesto er H rilil not afiected by cid and to winch a slender wire 8 isconnected, said wire passing through stopper 5 beyond the sealedend 4 ofthe balloon-neck. To cause commmghng of the chemicals 7 and 8, the userpulls on the 'wire 8', and thus drawssto su1e 6, whereupon the gas isgenerated and blows out stopper 7 and fillsthe gas-bag.

It willbe understood that the balloon 1s sealed and that while theindurated portion of the balloon is indurated at 4 and contains,

stance 7 may be hydrochloric acid and that A lifereserver of anypreferred form is shown at l, to which is attached by the light-- estand yet strongest possible cord 2 of S1111? I an i'nternal shou'lder5".The inverted .base

or plug 6., of a mate- 7 er 6 out of cap- 4 is sufficiently to preventaccidental In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is breaking of thecapsules and that the cap- 'sules are of suflicient strength to keepthem intact except when a blow is delivered thereon, yet the induratedportion and the capsules are adapted to be pinched, struck, or bitten bythe person who is to use the lifepreserver and to'display the signal,and the breakin of the capsule causes a union of the materia s 7 and 8and the generation of gas of suflicient volume to inflate the balloonand lift it to the desired height, so that if the user cannot pull thestopper 6 for any reason the gas can be generated nevertheless.

The signal consists of a flexible bag 9,

y which when distended assumes the form of a circular plinththat is, itwill be of disk-like.

formand it is connected to the cord 2 or the network of the balloon, soas to be suspended therefrom. This bag is coated with a phosphorescentor luminous paint, so that it will e visible by night, and it is alsocolored with brilliant stripes in order that it may be visible by day.The bag may be of any size found most desirable in A spiral filiactice.spring 10 is contained wit the signal-bag 9 and ordinarily confined-by asteel band 11, thus permitting the signal-bag to be folded about thespring in the smallest possible compass, so as to occupy but littlespace when not inuse. 7

When the occasion arises to use the life:

.preserver, the erson first afiixesthe life-preserver to himse and thenwithdraws the confining-band 11 through an opening 11 in the bag 9,whereupon the spring 10 ex ands and distends the signal-bag 9. Justbefore entering the water the person pulls on the wire 8', and thuswithdraws the stopper 6, or

'pinches, knocks, or bites the indurated por-' tion of the balloon, thussmashing the lass capsules 5 and 6 and causing a union 0 the chemicals 7and 8, which thereupon generate the gas and inflate the balloon, whichnow rises and carries the si al with it.

It will be understoo that it might at times be preferred in practice todispense with the signal-bag and to make the balloon itself the signalby treating same with a phosphorescent or luminous paint and properlystriping or coloring it, so that it would serve instead of thesignal-bag, or said balloon may be coated and striped even when thesignal-bag is used, as shown in the drawings.

Sometimes I may prefer to use but a single capsule of a material adaptedto withstand a heavy pressure and containing highly-compressed gas,together with means for liberating the gas when desired to causeinflation and floatin of the balloon.

Having t us described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a signal attachment for lifepreservers, the combination with alife-preserver, of a balloon attached to the life-preserver and adaptedto be disposed thereabove, and means carried by the balloon forinflating it comprising inverted receptacles one of which is containedwithin the other, a displaceable closure for the outer receptacle topermit the gas to pass into the balloonbag, and a closure normallysealing communication between said receptacles, and means for openingsaid last-named closure, said receptacles containing elementswhich'generate gas when united.

2. In a signal attachment for life-preservers, the combination with alife-pre server, of a balloon attached to the life-preserver and adaptedto be disposed thereabove, means carried by the balloon for inflating itcomprising seplarate frangible receptacles sealed within t e balloon andnormally out of communication with each other and containing substancesor materials, which, when united, generate gas.

3. In a balloon, means carried by the balloon for inflating itcomprising separate frangible receptacles sealed within the balloon andnormally out of communication with each other and containing substancesor materials which, when united, generate gas.

4. In a signal attachment for life-preservers, the combination with alife-pre server, of a balloon attached to the lifepreserver and adaptedto be disposed thereabove, andan independent signal having illuminatingmeans and which is ada ted to be supported or sustained by the bal oon.

5. In a signal attachment for life1-preservers, the combination with alife-pre server, of a balloon attached to the life-preserver and adaptedto be disposed there above, and a signal attachment ada ted tobesupported or sustained by the alloon which comprises a distendable bagand a distending-spring within said bag.

6. In a signal attachment for life-preservers, the combination with alife-preserver, of a balloon attached to the life-preserver and adaptedto be disposed there'- above, and a signal attachment ada ted to besupported or sustained by the said ba 7. Tie combination with a balloon,of'asignal attachment therefor comprisingla distendable bag, a springfor distendin t e bag,

and releasable means for confining t e spring.

ried by the balloon on the outside thereof which is operable from theexterior of the alloon which comprises a disk-like distendablebag, and aflat spiral distending-spring withinballoon while the inflating means iscontained therein for controlling the operation of the inflatin means.

9. .A signal alloon attachment for life-preservers comprising a balloonwhich is colored to be visible by day and coatedwith luminous paint soas to be visible at night, self-contained means carried by said balloonfor in flating it, and means carried by the balloon 10 on the outsidethereof which is operable from the exterior while the inflating means iscon tained therein for controlling the operation of the inflating means.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of twoWitnesses.

ADA O. CRQFFORD.

Witnesses:

W J. MOKINLEY, O. J. MANAHAN

